Despite having been dormant for many years, we are still inundated with requests and notes wanting to contribute or collaborate. Alas, our doors are closed. To make things easier on everyone, we have removed our contact info. We’re leaving this up as an archive. Thanks for your support! We loved getting to know you all…

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You may not know this about me. But I love Star Wars. The original 1977 film is one of my favorites— while yeah the special effects are dated and the acting a tad stilted, I still get a big grin on my face when I hear that theme music.

I don’t care WHO you were, if you grew up in the 70s your life was touched by Star Wars. If you weren’t obsessed with it, then your brother or best friend was. It was a pretty magical time, my friends. Let us begin.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…….

…..there were movie theaters that only showed ONE film. Popcorn, coke and a box of milkduds cost less then $10 and movies often only played at two times.

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Every self respecting kiddo of the 70s had a Star Wars tee and wore it with PRIDE. Bonus for rad plaid pants.

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This next little feller was heading off to his first day of kindergarten. Big Apple Name Tag, nap time mat, Super Friends Lunch Box…..and his best Star Wars Tee. I love this photo so much, it reminds me of my brother Karl—a die hard Star Wars fan. I can still see him playing with all his Star Wars characters. He even had that Super Friends lunch box!

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One of the best things about Star Wars toys is that there are soo many photos of little kids just BUSTIN’ with pride over their latest score:

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This kid had THEE ULTIMATE. The coveted Boba Fett. Boba Fett wasn’t even really in the first movie, but if you collected enough UPC codes from the Star Wars action figures you could send away to the Kenner toy company to receive your FREE Boba Fett Bounty Hunter action figure! No one really knew who the hell he was at that time, but we HAD TO HAVE HIM!! I remember Karl and I clipping the codes out and mailing them in, and being so excited when he finally arrived. This is the biggun, the 12 incher….not the freebie. You can see how stoked this little guy is:

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Please note the Incredible Hulk Latch Hook Rug dealie resting casually on the back of the couch of this next one. Grrrrrr!

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It was CLEARLY an excellent holiday at this kid’s house. He got the AT-AT walker from Empire Strikes Back, and his sister scored the Barbie Townhouse. I sooo had that as a little girl—that damn thing wobbled like crazy but how sweet is the elevator?

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Speaking of kid sisters, they always wanted to get in on the fun too:

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How cute is little Leia??

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I guess that makes a great segue to COSTUMES. Star Wars costumes became extremely popular—many of them homemade.

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“Arenâ€t you a little short for a storm trooper??” I’m loving the Mod Lord Vader jumpsuit.

Awwww no wonder Patches is so sad. His buddies got Star Wars coolness while his parents dress him up as a psychotic clown. {sad trombone} Although to be fair, the little ewok looks like the love child of  Kenny Rogers and Big Foot…

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STYLIN’!!!!! (and you *know* I’m not talking about that sassy little storm trooper…..hold up. Does Gladys have a SPINNING WHEEL in the left corner over there???)

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The art of Star Wars (as seen through the eyes of a kiddo) was also amazing:

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Clearly the Old Spice guy modeled himself after Lando: “Hello Ladies…!”

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While most fans were little boys, little girls definitely got in on the Star Wars action too:

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“Walk softly and carry a big laser blaster….”

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I think it goes without saying that anybody who was anybody had a Star Wars themed birthday party.

We begin with the awesome Steven. I love that his parents made this sign! Although I gotta say, that little clown on the left is sort of ruinin’ Steven’s Jedi mojo.

image: Sam Howzit His mom made extra rad R2D2 name tag for all the kids too. See ’em here.

Mmmmm. Chocolate Vader. Made with Extra Dark Side chocolate….

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Alas, I think Dan’s mom needs a few lessons from the lady up above. She gets an “A” for “artful fork display” and bonus points for two boxes of Pop Rocks!

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Aaron has the best vintage Star Wars pictures on this Flickr Stream. This was apparently at McDonalds (note the soft serve sundaes). Boba Fett cake? Rockin’…..

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Look how cute and happy this little guy is. And that cake looks might tasty too….

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Not sure what’s more impressive….the sculptural R2D2 or those stylin’ Mork from Ork suspenders??

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This next one takes the, er cake. Or rather his mom took the cake….to the damn photo studio. What the what?? Amazing.

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And finally, the ultimate: having a tricked out Star Wars Bedroom. Many a child lulled themselves to sleep murmuring, “These are not the droids you are looking for…..” cuddled up under these amazing sheets:

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This photo had the best caption. “Darth Vader’s light saber in my eye….but E.T. warming my heart.”

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Sweet dreams little Jedi….

P.S. There is a really amazing Flickr group called Growing Up Star Wars: 1977-1985. You really should check it out—and add your own photos if you have any!

Back in the day, your lunch box was something you treasured. You eagerly picked out a new one each year…and carried it with a sense of pride. For some reason I feel like lunch boxes are much more utilitarian now. Sure, they still have cartoons and what not on them, but more and more kiddo’s on the elementary school playground have unbranded nylon totes. Even bento boxes, which can be darling, don’t have the same cache and magic of a Knight Rider lunch box, ya know? This photo sums it all up for me—and totally reminds me of my brother Karl. He worshiped Star Wars and looooved his awesome Super Friends lunch pail.

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Lunch boxes were SUPER trendy amongst collectors back in the 90s….kinda like Pez. Prices became so inflated that I wouldn’t even really look at them, knowing they would cost a pretty penny. But the other day I stumbled upon a great Snoopy lunchbox and it reminded me that I DID still love them. What kind of lunch box did you carry back in the day?

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image: Kevin Rej

TV show based lunch boxed were especially popular in my day (the 70s). That Charlie’s Angels lunch box?? I sooo wanted one. Ironically, often lunch boxes were for TV shows that your parents would never really let you watch….or for bands you never really listened to at age 8 (KISS, Charlie’s Angels, the A-Team….LAUGH IN!). But you knew of them through pop culture and you wanted to be a part of it all!

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image: Sarah Kennon

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I understand why they have evolved….tin lunch boxes get a little rusty, and nylon/vinyl is easier to clean. But man I miss those days. Wolfie likes his lunch box, and we got him a sweet Pokemon one, but I know he doesn’t feel that same reverence we all did when we were kids.

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Do you have these same memories? What was your lunch box? And how about your kiddos….what are they carrying their lunch in these days? I’m curious!

FLASHBACK // This post is one of our most popular and most pinned! We thought it would be fun to share it with you again in case you missed it the first time around!

Hey friends! Did you have a great weekend? We had a super lovely one. Not to make our east coast pals jealous, but the weather in the Bay Area has been GLORIOUS! Like, sunshine-on-my-shoulders, bare legs, lemme-order-up-an-ice-coffee glorious. In honor of the beautiful sunshine, let’s take a lil lookie at some of my fave vintage items in today’s color: YELLOW.

Oh YELLOW. It’s just a happy color, eh? I find that over the years I’ve been wearing so much more yellow. Those top shoes and my Enid Collins butterfly bag are just too much fun. That Panasonic radio is technically Greg’s (he has a pretty groovy collection of vintage electronics). It’s called a Toot-a-Loop and was designed to wrap around our wrist for easy transportation. Suh-weeeet!

You can see Jenny’s original Vintage Yellow colors here.

The year was 1968 and the Summer Olympics (or the Games of the XIX Olympiad, as they were officially called!) were held in Mexico City, Mexico. The Mexican Olympics were notable for many things: they were the first Games hosted by a Latin American nation, they were the first Games to feature a woman torch-bearer lighting the Olympic flame…they were the Olympics where more world records were broken than in any other prior Olympiad and they were the Olympics where two African-American athletes took a stand for human rights by infamously raising their black-gloved fists.

But perhaps one of my favorite things about that Olympics? The innovative (and crazy excellent) graphic design system created to celebrate these Games. The bar had been set high by Tokyo in 1964, and the Mexican Olympic committee wanted to make a similar splash! Take a look at this:

Pedro Ramirez Vázquez, Chairman of the Organizing Committee and an important Mexican architect, took the lead on the design committee and eventually selected Lance Wyman as head graphic designer (USA) as well as Eduardo Terrazas (Mexico) as the lead on Urban Design.

Sketches and color explorations from inside Lance Wyman’s studio:

“As I recall there were only two mandatory requirements; that we use the official five ring Olympic symbol to identify the games, and that we use three languages—Spanish, English and French—for all written communication. The Mexico 1968 logotype, which was based on traditional forms from Mexican culture as well as being Sixties pp-art kinetic typography, set the tone for the entire graphics system. It was designed by integrating the official five ring Olympic symbol into the number “68” to create a parallel line typography that suggested imagery found in Mexican pre-Hispanic art and folk art. The logotype powerfully expressed a sense of place and culture and visually exclaimed the Games were in Mexico.”  — Lance Wyman from The Olympic Image: The first 100 Years, Compiled & Edited by Wei Yew  © 1996

I just love everything about this look. That lettering is terrific and it’s so clever—combining traditional Mexican imagery with 1960s op-art. No wonder these graphics are so legendary.

The designers also created a simple but bold and colorful icon system to help code all the various events.

“Colour and Mexico are synonymous. We used bright colour to code the sport events, the motor routes, the entry tickets, and the seating sections in the venues. We applied colour liberally to postage stamps, publication mastheads, souvenirs, and stadium plazas. Colour helped transform the 1968 Summer Olympic Games into a Mexican fiesta!” —Lance Wyman

The amazing thing was how the logo and graphic system were integrated into every visual aspect of the ’68 Games, from tickets to events, to stamps, postcards, signs, programs, even clothing!

I just love it….it’s still as fresh and modern today as it was back then, don’t you agree?

I have to say I love the Olympics and I’m SO excited for the Sochi Games coming up next month. Last time the Winter Olympics rolled around, Wolfie and I were loving watching Shawn White and the snowboarders, Apollo Ohno and the speedskaters….and of course, my childhood favorite, the figure skating competition! Which events are you looking forward to most??

HELLO! THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THE LUCKY WINNER (CHOSEN VIA THE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR) WAS:

THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO ENTERED!

Friends….have you missed me?? I’ve sure missed you! Dottie and I are have been busy as can be, but we’ve had a Modern Kiddo Summit and are getting ready to come back better than ever. But in the mean time we have a little special something for ya.

Can we talk about coffee? Ahhh. I just love it. It’s how I start my day…and it’s how I give myself a little pick me up in the afternoon.  I love a classic cuppa joe with a splash of cream. I love iced coffee. And I admit, I do love a lil flavored coffee every now and then. The only problem in our house? I’m the only coffee drinker! So rather than brew up a giant pot all for my lonesome, I tend to shell out way too much cashola at the cafe. What’s a coffee loving girl to do? Enter….Keurig!

When the kind folks at Keurig offered to let me try one of their Keurig Special Edition brewing systems, I was extremely curious. Friends, it’s pretty amazing. It’s super easy to use and brews you a lovely cup of coffee in less than 60 seconds. Yes….60 seconds! The coffee was hot, strong and very tasty. You just pop a lil K-Cup pod into the machine and hit a button. Easy peasy! There are three settings too….small cup (perfect for vintage coffee cups!), medium cup and large (when only a big ol Orla Kiely size mug will do!).

With the Keurig you can also brew tea and hot cocoa….AND if you are super particular about your coffee, you can even get a My K-Cup which allows you to use your own schmancy coffee. Sweet! (I’m looking at you, Blue Bottle….)

Oh how I wish I had one of these when I was a new mama! It’s so crazy convenient—perfect for those early mornings (or late nights). I’m thinking this may be my new go-to gift for preggo friends or busy mamas. I’m having so much fun with it, I wanted to give one away to YOU!

HELLO! THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. WINNER WILL BE ANNOUNCED OVER THE WEEKEND>> THANK YOU FOR ENTERING AND GOOD LUCK!!

YEP! We are giving away one fabulous Keurig Special Edition brewing system (valued at $149.99).

To Enter to Win:

1.  Simply leave a lil comment below telling me what you love about coffee or your favorite kind of coffee! Be sure to leave your email so we can get in touch with you.

BONUS entries:

2. Tweet about this giveaway! Please be sure to tag @modernkiddo and use the #JustBrewIt tag!

Sample Tweet: I just entered to win a @Keurig coffee maker from @modernkiddo. Wish me luck! #JustBrewIt

Deadline to enter is April 17. We’ll announce the winner next Friday, April 18! Good luck!

We participated in this sponsored campaign on behalf of One2One Network, however as always all opinions stated are our own.

We were in Marin the other weekend. And we drove by the Marin Civic Center. It’s a fabulous masterpiece and looks somewhat incongruous in the pretty Marin setting….like a sleek space station plunked down in the midst of the scenery. In fact, the groovy sci-fi movie Gattaca was even filmed there!

We decided to walk around a little bit, but we were suddenly totally distracted. Look what we have here….

Oh-so-casually parked under this little overhang….a pristine vintage 1960s Plymouth Fury police cruiser. WOW! It was so cool. I felt like I had blasted back in time (and was wishing I was wearing a more special outfit). I love it! But as amazing as the car is, let’s pause for a moment to acknowledge the insane lighting situation going on up there in the background.

WOW! Talk about crazy globes.

No one wants to be pulled over by the fuzz, but man…..this would totally help soften the blow. I’m not sure what the car was doing there. Perhaps they just bring it out for the weekend. Maybe it belonged to some kooky collector. Either way, I was loving it!